Sports Redux: Turn On the Hot Stove

It's a busy time for Boston sports. The Bruins are preparing for tonight's game against the Penguins, most likely sterilizing everything any player could possibly touch while hoping that Saturday's absolutely brilliant play wasn't just a fluke. The Patriots are gearing up for Sunday's showdown with Peyton and Company, curious about how Dan Koppen could - or could not - factor into that equation. The Celtics, while off to a 7-1 start, are working on fixing what has appeared recently to be some pretty Shaq-like free throw skills.

While all that's going on, especially given the implosion that ended their season, it could be easy to ignore the Red Sox right now. And yet there's activity happening on Yawkey Way that is going to seriously shape the Olde Towne Team into something new by the time pitchers and catchers report in 2010.

Surprising no one but still making it official, Theo Epstein announced Monday that it will be Victor Martinez to whom the Sox turn for everyday catching duties next season. With the transition, VMart becomes the new anchor of the infield, while the brass now expects Sox captain Jason Varitek to accept a backup position. No word from Tek on his response, although our thought is that he should take the backup position, help pass along the institutional knowledge during this season, retire, join the coaching staff and eventually get his number retired. If he doesn't, our hope is that a team meeting can be arranged so that he can get a proper sendoff (obviously, Josh Beckett is our team's Ethan Hawke).

In other news, the team's squabbles with Jason Bay continue (psst, Theo: sign him, will ya?), but it's basically guaranteed that Tim Wakefield will finish his career in the Sox uniform. There's a chance that the Sox might be ready to shake things up on the acquisition front. The hot stove action, it would seem, could be gearing up already.